Which nations are evacuating citizens from Sudan and how are they doing it?

Thousands have been evacuated to either their home countries or neighbouring nations by land, air and sea

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As a 72-hour ceasefire in Sudan slowed the fighting, nations around the world seized the opportunity to help their citizens escape from Sudan.

Thousands have been evacuated to either their home countries or neighbouring nations by land, air and sea, as tens of thousands of Sudanese without second citizenships flee the capital Khartoum and other areas in droves.

Here is where the evacuations stand so far.

Americas

Despite originally saying the government would not evacuate its citizens from Sudan, US military helicopters on Sunday collected a little under 100 people from the embassy on the southern edge of Khartoum.

As the ceasefire continues to crumble with heavy fire around the capital and elsewhere, airlifts are becoming harder. The Pentagon said on Monday it was looking into ways to protect land routes out of the country.

“In the coming days, we will continue to work with the State Department to help American citizens who may want to leave Sudan,” said Christopher Maier, the assistant secretary of defence for special operations and low-intensity warfare.

“One of those ways is to potentially make the overland routes out of Sudan potentially more viable. So, DOD [Department of Defence] is at present considering actions that may include use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to be able to observe routes and detect threats.”

Canada's diplomatic staff left with the Americans, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about 550 more wanted to leave. On Tuesday, 100 people were evacuated on UAE, Saudi, French and German flights. There are a total of 1,700 Canadians in Sudan registered with the foreign ministry.

Europe

Britain on Tuesday said it had begun “a large-scale evacuation” of its citizens, following an operation on Sunday to fly out embassy staff. British citizens trapped in Sudan had voiced anger over the lack of communication around a possible evacuation, which left some turning down other opportunities to leave after being told to wait by the embassy.

“The first flight has left and you can expect that there will be at least two more flights overnight tonight,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesman told reporters.

About 4,000 Britons with dual citizenship and 400 with UK-only passports are in Sudan, according to the British government.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that 1,000 EU citizens had been evacuated.

Germany has been leading international co-ordination for the evacuations out of an airbase near Khartoum. It said a sixth and last flight to Jordan would take place on Tuesday evening.

France evacuated 538 people, President Emmanuel Macron said, with French citizens making up a little more than a third of them.

Ukraine said on Tuesday it had evacuated 138 people to Egypt, including 87 of its own citizens.

The Netherlands said “around 100 Dutch citizens have been evacuated, half of them on Dutch flights”, which also carried 70 others, according to the foreign ministry.

Italy evacuated about 200 people in a military operation on Sunday, rescuing all citizens who “had asked to leave” and others including Vatican representatives.

A Spanish military plane with 100 passengers, 30 of them Spanish, left on Sunday for Djibouti, Madrid said.

A first group of 17 Greek citizens arrived on Tuesday in Athens on an army transport plane via Djibouti, the defence ministry said.

Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania said citizens had been evacuated with foreign help.

Middle East and North Africa

Saudi Arabia led the first large-scale evacuations on Saturday by sea, and since then, hundreds of Saudis and people from more than 20 countries have been taken to the port city of Jeddah.

The UAE said it had “evacuated its citizens” to Port Sudan and was also hosting people from 19 other countries.

Jordan late on Sunday flew out nearly 350 people including Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians and Germans to a military airport in the kingdom, and on Monday announced “20 Jordanians arrived” aboard a German plane.

Egypt on Sunday said 436 citizens had left by land. More than 10,000 Egyptians are thought to live in Sudan and thousands of refugees are heading towards its border to escape the fighting.

More than 200 Moroccans reached Port Sudan in convoys organised by their embassy, Rabat said on Monday, and Tunisia said a military flight had evacuated some of its citizens, but did not give a number.

Read more about Middle Eastern efforts.

Africa

Several African countries have begun pulling their citizens out via Port Sudan, including Mauritania and Chad, at 101 and 438, respectively.

Algeria, Tunisia and South Africa have also announced rescue operations.

Chad said it was sending planes to collect 438 citizens from Port Sudan.

Mali said on Tuesday that 55 citizens had arrived at Sudan's border with Ethiopia and another group of 14 was on its way there.

Kenya, which has about 3,000 citizens in Sudan, evacuated 38 Kenyans, Somalis and a Saudi citizen, who landed in Nairobi on Monday night.

Nigeria plans to fly about 3,000 citizens, mostly students, out by convoy to Egypt this week, an official said on Monday.

Uganda has evacuated more than 200 citizens on buses via Ethiopia, its ambassador told AFP.

Ivory Coast said 47 of its citizens were headed by bus from Khartoum to Cairo.

Asia

China said on Monday it had “safely evacuated” its first group of citizens, estimating that about 1,500 “Chinese compatriots” were in Sudan.

India also announced a successful rescue mission on Monday.

Pakistan said a convoy carrying 211 of its citizens arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday, bringing the total number of Pakistanis evacuated to 700, with about 1,500 still in Sudan.

Japan has evacuated 45 citizens, including diplomats, aboard a military plane via Djibouti.

A plane carrying 28 South Koreans arrived in Jeddah on Monday, a Saudi official said.

Indonesia said it had moved 538 of its citizens to Port Sudan, with another 289 due to travel in a second phase. Malaysia said 30 citizens had arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday.

The Philippines, which has about 700 citizens in Sudan, said on Tuesday that 50 were travelling overland to Egypt from Khartoum.

“We will do what we can,” said foreign affairs official Eduardo de Vega. “It's very difficult.”

Updated: April 26, 2023, 9:50 AM